Solutions and Innovation
A step change in the sector’s environmental and social impact is required to achieve the UKGBC vision for a sustainable built environment. This requires innovation in technology, business models and ways of operating, but innovation in the sector can be slow.
UKGBC Solutions launched in June 2021. This new part of the UKGBC website supports our work in addressing shared sustainability challenges within the property and construction sector, and enhances collaboration between innovators and corporates. UKGBC Solutions was launched following the success of a pilot solution crowdsourcing project run in 2020. There are three main areas of work:
- Solutions Library: offering practical and commercially viable solutions and case studies to help address common sustainability challenges across the sector. We welcome UKGBC members and non-members to submit solutions, and UGKBC members to submit case studies, for potential inclusion.
- Challenges: All solutions need a problem to solve. Here, UKGBC members can propose challenges that they would like help with. UKGBC will then use its unique convening power to crowdsource and collaborate to identify the solutions. Details of challenges we have previously run, and of any ‘live’ challenges currently open can be found here.
- Inside Innovation: UKGBC has an expanding community of ‘Innovative Start-Up’ members, who we welcome at a discounted rate of just £105 per year. UKGBC Innovative Start-Up members are profiled in Inside Innovation, including interviews with many of them to explore their innovation journey within the built environment. We host quarterly Innovative Start-Up Forum meetings to connect these members with each other and the wider corporate UKGBC membership. You can also find our Hub/Accelerator members listed in Inside Innovation, as well as UKGBC’s own innovation tools and resources.
Get involved:
- Browse the Solutions Library, and submit a solution or case study for inclusion.
- Submit a challenge topic for consideration.
- Submit a solution to one of our live challenges when they are running
- Apply to become an Innovative Start-Up member. For more information on how we support Innovative Start-Ups, please contact innovation@redbankfestival.com.
- If you are already an Innovative Start-Up member, join our Innovative Start-Up Forum.
If you are a UKGBC member and would like to join our Solutions & Innovation Mailing List to receive regular updates and information on how to get involved, please email innovation@redbankfestival.com.
Contact lucy.rees@redbankfestival.com if you would like to collaborate on innovation activities.
Resources:
- Open Innovation Levels Framework
- Delivering Social Value: Community Engagement Hacked
- Circular Economy Innovation Insights
- Innovation Insights: Making Space as Agile as Technology
- Sustainable Innovation Manual
- Sustainable Innovation Templates
- Innovation Insights: Reducing Operational Carbon
- Concepts from UKGBC’s Future Leaders programme
Upcoming events:
- Innovative Start-Up Forum inaugural meeting was held on 30th September 2021. The next upcoming will be January 2022 (exact date TBC).